the things our subconscious gets up to...

[westerling]

This morning, I had a very vivid dream in which there was a group of us playing out the ritual murder of a King, as part of a seasonal cycle (probably most who read my entries would know about this ancient story). The spaces and action of the months-long drama were set alongside our regular lives, and knowing who the people were in "real" life, but in very lush surroundings and rather like a parallel universe (with elaborate costuming), and throughout the course of the dream, I wasn't sure whether the King was metaporically killed or actually, you know, dead, at the end of the ritual. I'm still not sure, since we didn't make it that far; we were still in the selection process, and in the old stories, it's difficult to know, on some level, no differentiation is made.

It is always important that the King be a willing sacrifice, and the Queen selects the King for the cycle, and in this case, the Queen was asakiyume. All of the candidates (and there were many, with varying degrees of enthusiasm) came through this rather elaborate chamber and presented cards with poetry inside, and the judgment was based on the most pleasing poetry, which ranged from Emerson to A.A. Milne. There were a lot of modern poets, and some I don't remember now, but I had gotten a chance to look at the cards too. Emerson seemed to be the favorite at the moment, and that card was presented by a very dashing-looking man who clearly wished to be selected and had a charismatic way about him ([Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com], this is not what I would have expected of your taste in poetry).

There was, after that, a lot of walking through woods, some of which was snowy, with abandoned shops and houses in some places, giving a feeling of remoteness to the area (as though there had been folks living here once, but everybody had left because it was too far from everything else). One of the abandoned shops was for a trade that I had never heard of, but in the dream, I knew what it was--it had something to do with repairing metal equipment, but not a blacksmith or something like that). Alas, I do not remember what it was called or more specifics.

We didn't get any farther along than that, so now I will never know what the next trial was. I love how so many strands of my life wove themselves into a new story that is unrecognizable as "mine." Also, how delightful to cast an LJ presence into my dream (yes, we have met IRL, but much here much more often).

Comments

[laughingrat.livejournal.com]

That is so strange and awesome.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

this is not what I would have expected of your taste in poetry

Perhaps as he was dashing and charismatic, I put aside my actual poetic preferences to choose him!

What a fantastic dream! I am very honored to have been in it, and with such a prominent role. It's funny, as I was reading, my heartbeat was accelerating--it was like reading an account of something I'd actually participated in, but hadn't remembered until the person started talking.

Thank you! Not that you have control over your subconscious--but thank you for sharing. You're pretty magical, you know.

[westerling.livejournal.com]

It felt so real, like this is what we are all getting up to while we're asleep. The grace you were showing as you went about this task was absolutely queenly.

This is the kind of thing that happens when you feed your subconscious too much of the seasonal ritual stuff!

(On a related note, I see you are reading Pratchett. Have you read Hogfather?)

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I haven't read Hogfather--is that another good one? (Most people tell me that things having to do with Vimes and the Guard, or Tiffany Aching, are good, and that things having to do with Unseen University are not so good.)